Page 81 of The One for Me
“Love you, Auntie.”
“Love you more.”
“Thanks, Sean. I’ll see you tomorrow at practice.”
I give him a fist bump. “You got it, man.”
He rushes to where Hazel is standing in the doorway, waiting for him. We wave to her, and then Austin gives an enthusiastic wave back.
“He really looks up to you,” Devney says as we watch Hazel slide Austin’s gear bag off his shoulder.
“Austin is a great kid with a lot of skill. If he sticks to it, I’m telling you, he’s really got potential.”
She leans her head back, tilting it so she can look at me. “I hope he finds whatever makes him happy. If it’s baseball, then so be it, but I hope he finds a passion in school too. I worry that he’ll be one of the guys who barely makes it. It’ll destroy him.”
She’s talking about Isaac Withers. I played college ball with him, and he had it all...talent, discipline, and ambition, but he never could get through the minor leagues. They make next to nothing, travel, train, and never see their families. It took a huge toll on him, and he took his life a year ago.
Devney came.
She was there, holding my hand as I struggled with the loss. Isaac had just gotten married and had a baby on the way.
I take her hand in mine. “He has so much time to figure it out and he has people who love him and will guide him.”
“I hope so.”
“Even if he doesn’t play ball forever, sports are such a huge part of kids’ lives, and he will never forget how it felt to be on the field. Still, I would never encourage him if I didn’t think he couldn’t make it.”
She gives me a sad smile. “I hope we never have to have that conversation in a few years.”
In a few years. The words rattle around in my head and I try not to make too much of it. We have been friends for so damn long that it could mean anything, but I really fucking hope it’s more. I want the rest of our lives to be this way.
I will give up everything if it means I end up with her.
My biggest worry is that she’ll change her mind last minute. She’ll want to stay here and therefore, I am making alternate plans in my head. I haven’t said it to her, but if it’s the only option, then I retire from baseball. I have more than enough money for us to live the rest of our lives without having to worry. Yes, there will be huge penalties that I’ll have to pay back and it won’t be the life I promised, but if Devney chooses not to come with me, then I’ll have no other choice.
It isn’t what I want, and it would be the stupidest choice I make, but I can’t lose her.
I kiss the top of her hand. “I hope not either.”
“Now,” Devney draws the word out, “about that prize . . .”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Devney
Never has anything felt so good. “Sean,” I moan as his tongue swipes against my clit again.
He does it again, and everything turns tight and tingly. I could wake up this way every day and never have a single thing to complain about.
A few hours ago, we made love. It was soft, sweet, and filled me with so much happiness I could burst. We fell asleep in each other’s arms, and what I thought was an erotic dream, turned out to be Sean spreading my legs and bringing me to climax in my sleep.
There is no light in the room other than the slivers of moonlight that filter through the window. I can’t see him, but I feel him everywhere.
“Please, baby, I can’t take much more,” I say between heavy breaths.
“Let’s see if that’s true.”
My eyes close, and I focus on the immense pleasure. Sean brings me higher, so much so that I can see the peak, but then he stops, kissing the inside of my thigh.
